


hypnotized

by renaissanceee



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hypnotism, Valentine's Day Fluff, and it's supposed to be lame like a romcom, but i wrote it quickly, it's literally just two sentences max, it's mostly before and after, this is probably not good at all, very little actual hypnosis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22723462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renaissanceee/pseuds/renaissanceee
Summary: Rey invites Ben to see a hypnotist show and he agrees, but on one condition: Rey volunteers to go under. When Rey comes to, Ben can't look her in the eye and suddenly she thinks it was a bad idea to agree to this. What could she have possibly said that would leave Ben so uncomfortable and pissed?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	hypnotized

**Author's Note:**

> idk i just felt like yall need a valentine's day gift so i wrote this in literally five minutes. it's lame and short and fluffy but oh well. if it's bad just pretend it doesn't exist. love you and happy valentine's day <3

“This is so dumb.” Ben trudged behind her in the line of guests filing slowly into the theater. 

Rey smiled up at him, “That’s what makes it fun.”

He rolled his eyes, but Rey saw the small quirk of his lips that told her he found her amusing. “I’m only here because you promised to volunteer.”

Rey laughed, ignoring the spastic swooping of her stomach. She had meant it as a joke, really, this whole thing. Going to see a hypnotist on Valentine’s Day? Who would be so lame? Apparently, her and Ben. Along with about twenty other middle-aged couples. The trouble wasn’t that they were seeing a hypnotist, or even that it was Valentine’s Day (despite the fact that they weren’t exactly a couple), the trouble was that Rey had jokingly told Ben that if he went with her, she’d raise her hand and offer to be put under the hypnotist’s spell. She didn’t know what to expect from being hypnotized, but if she knew one thing from all of her online research beforehand, it was that when she came to, it would be solely up to Ben to tell her exactly what had happened.

Rey hadn’t meant to suggest they spend Valentine’s Day together. It had been an accident. She saw the hypnotist coming into town and knew the only person who would agree to go with her was Ben. He could never say no to her. Was it really her fault that the hypnotist was putting on a Valentine’s Day special?

Rey shivered and Ben took a step closer to her, trying to donate some of his body heat. It was cold out. February had decided to bring with it a gust of icy wind and snowstorms and Rey had never quite gotten used to cold weather after all of her time in the dry heat of her hometown, Jakku. Had it been literally any other night, Rey wouldn’t hesitate to sneak her arms around Ben, under his jacket, to extract as much heat as possible, but with the canoodling couples nearby, it seemed inappropriate for Rey to hold Ben close.

It wasn’t like either of them were oblivious to the other, if Rey had to guess they’d both been aware of their mutual crushes for months now, but it seemed neither one of them could work up the courage to actually do something about it. Instead, they spent their days dancing around one another in an agonizing routine that left them both wanting more.

Rey didn’t know why she was waiting for Ben to make the first move. It wasn’t like he’d ever been good at that sort of thing. As far as Rey could tell, he’d be perfectly happy to spend a lifetime at Rey’s side, never actually doing or saying anything that crossed the line and set the progression of their relationship in motion. No, Rey knew that if anything were to happen, it would have to be on her. So why she was still hesitating after all these months was beyond her. Using fear as an excuse could only take her so far, after all, Rey knew that if she and Ben ever did get together, it would be as easy as breathing. In fact, it was probably more difficult for them to avoid their attraction to one another than it was for them to act on it.

Rey and Ben shuffled closer together and further ahead in line as one more couple was admitted.

“Why’s it so damn cold?” She said, tucking her hands under her arms to try to preserve some warmth.

“Maybe because you forgot your parka.” Ben told her eyeing the light jacket she’d shrugged on before they left. He’d warned her against it, but she’d insisted they wouldn’t be outside for very long anyway. Boy, was she wrong.

“Shut up, marshmallow.” She said, bumping her shoulder against his, which was padded by his puffy black jacket.

“At least I’m warm.” He said, shrugging.

Rey huffed, watching her breath come out in a small white puff. “If you were nice, you’d give me your jacket.”

“If you were smart, you’d have worn one.”

“This is a jacket! It’s just not a... coat.”

Ben hummed, unzipping his jacket and shrugging it off.

“What are you doing?” Rey asked, watching him as they moved forward in line once again.

He didn’t answer her, instead wrapping the large jacket around her shoulders, his hands still gripping the jacket at the front “Happy now?”

Yes, she was happy. She was warm and it smelled like him. She felt tiny and precious and she was happy. She looked up at him with a bright smile, “You’re my prince charming.”

A pink blush dusted his cheeks, and he looked away from her, his hands dropping from where they’d been holding the jacket around her, “Yeah, whatever.”

She held the jacket over her shoulders, trying to subtly breath in the scent of Ben that surrounded her. 

The line seemed to move a lot quicker now that Rey wasn’t afraid she was going to die of hypothermia. 

The venue was small, with only enough tables for each couple there. Each table was covered with a soft, satiny red tablecloth and held a single candle in the middle as a centerpiece. It was far too intimate of an environment to invite a friend, and Rey once again cursed the vendor who had advertised this event as “family-friendly, all ages”. She doubted this show was intended for anyone other than deeply in love couples.

Ben made no indication that he was uncomfortable with the situation, though, as he held Rey’s chair out for her and sat across from her, a smile on his face.

“So this hypnotist, is he the real deal?”

Rey shrugged, “I didn’t really read reviews for him, but how hard can it be to hypnotize someone?”

Ben raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t comment.

Rey watched as couples finished settling themselves at the tables and the lights lowered. Her stomach flipped over as she looked at Ben in the low lighting. Shadows cast across his face, giving him an ominous look. He noticed her watching and gave her a smile. She smiled back, watching the fire dance in his brown eyes. 

Her attention was called away by an introductory round of applause from the audience as the hypnotist stepped out on stage, introducing himself.

When it came time for him to ask for volunteers, Ben practically shoved Rey on stage. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was Ben’s beautiful face and his mischievous eyes.

~*~~*~~*~

When Rey came to, she saw laughing faces with tears in their eyes and red blooming across their faces. Searching for Ben in the audience, she found his mortified stare quickly, and her stomach sank at the way he wouldn’t meet her eye.

The hypnotist dismissed her from the stage with a hint of humor in his eye and Rey scurried off to sit back down at her small table with Ben. He didn’t look at her as she took her seat once again.

The rest of the show passed in an uncomfortable blur of people making awkward confessions and saying sweet things about their partner. Rey was able to gather the general line of questioning from the three other people that were hypnotized. It was always “Who are you here with?” and then “Why are you here with them?” and then the questions would evolve into a more tailored structure, eking out the best and most hilarious answers from the hypnotized party.

Rey shifted in her seat, wildly wondering what she possibly could have confessed to up there. She thought of everything from telling the crowd about losing her virginity to the time she’d accidentally destroyed Finn’s phone by dropping it in the toilet. The possibilities were endless, but from Ben’s demeanor, she knew she’d said something that had embarrassed him in front of this crowd of strangers. His shoulders were tense and his face was constantly flushed pink. It was a cute sight, and Rey would enjoy taking it in if she didn’t feel extreme guilt every time she looked over to him.

The hypnotist ended the show by thanking all of the participants and wishing everyone a happy Valentine’s Day. Rey clapped politely, waiting for the moment she could turn to Ben and ask him what she’d said while under hypnosis.

As couple got up to leave, a short elderly lady hobbled her way towards their table. She peered at Ben and Rey for a long time before laughing and saying, “Oh, yes, you two are a sight to behold. Good luck, boy.” The woman patted Ben’s shoulder and hobbled back over to a shockingly tall man. Rey had never thought she’d ever see anyone taller than Ben, yet there he was with a woman so short she could pass as a child, were it not for her wrinkled skin and bottle-cap glasses.

Rey leaned over the table, but Ben was already standing, donning his coat, “Ben, what did I say?”

“Not now, Rey.” He said, and his voice was hard. She hated when he got in moods like this. He was always unpredictable. You never knew how long he would be mad or who he was mad at. He was grumpy and irrational and as oddly sexy as it was, at a time like this Rey didn’t want this Ben, she wanted  _ her _ Ben. The Ben that could laugh off even the silliest of things and the Ben that smiled at her like she was the only one who mattered. This Ben didn’t look at her at all, and she hated it.

Rey followed behind him as he walked out the door and out into the bitterly cold night. Rey wanted to cling onto him for warmth, but knew that was perhaps the worst idea she could have at that moment. Instead, she followed him as he walked briskly to her favorite pizza place, holding the door open and shuffling her inside.

She watched him wearily as he ordered a large pizza, half how she liked it and half how he liked it. She hated that even in his pissy mood, he was considerate. He took her to get her favorite pizza, he paid, and he even picked her favorite booth to sit at, the one in the back that overlooked the restaurant, but was secluded enough for actual conversation.

He fiddled with the table marker, his long fingers twirling the object around and around as his gaze flitted from picture to picture on the wall, taking in each photo of the pizza shop owner with various celebrities.

“Ben,” Rey ventured, “can you just tell me what I said?”

His fingers stilled and his eyes fell to Rey, “Does it matter?”

“It’s clearly making you uncomfortable.” Rey said, gesturing to him, “So yeah, I feel like it matters.”

“It doesn’t... we’ll never see those people again, we can just pretend this whole night never happened. It was a bad idea.” 

Rey frowned, “Well, whatever I said, I’m sorry.”

He smiled, but it was quick and insincere. “It’s not what you said... it’s that it was in front of a room full of strangers.”

Rey sighed, her head falling back the rest on the booth behind her, “If you never tell me, I’ll never know what to apologize for.”

Rey could swear he was blushing, “You really don’t have to apologize for it.”

“Is it really that bad?” She asked, looking at him candidly, “Did I tell everyone about the time I walked in on Finn and Poe having sex?” Ben tried to suppress a smile and Rey laughed, “Or about the time I tried to flirt with Rose while high off my ass? And then got sad when she told me she had a boyfriend?”

Ben shook his head, “No, it wasn’t any of that.”

“Was it the time I tried to sneak out of-”

“You told everyone you heard me jerking off to you.” Ben said bluntly, his eyes trained on the table between them.

“And here’s one large pizza with pepperoni, half olives and half pineapple.” A waitress interrupted them, setting their pizza down in front of them and putting her hands on her hips as she looked between them, “Anything else I can get you?”

Rey shook her head, heat crawling across her face, “We’re fine, thank you.” She managed to choke out.

The waitress left with a smile and Rey just stared at Ben. She hadn’t told anybody about that incident. It had been months, and she’d been sitting on that information. She hadn’t told a single soul, and she’d promised herself she never would. Except that tonight she had told a room full of strangers.

“I-”

“Please don’t say anything. I just want to forget it ever happened.” He muttered, handing her a plate.

“Ben, no.” Rey said, “I... I’m sorry I did that but... you shouldn’t feel bad. I mean...”

He snorted, “Yeah, don’t feel bad about masturbating to the thought of your best friend? Great advice, Rey. Next you’ll tell me that it’s not that bad to rob banks.”

“Okay, well, it’s definitely not illegal to get off to me, so there’s that. Secondly, you really shouldn’t feel bad, because if you feel bad then I’d have to feel bad and-”

“Why would you feel bad?”

Rey paused, looking at him incredulously, “Well, you know... me, too. I mean... the-” Rey motioned vaguely, trying to mimic some kind of motion that would indicating masturbation, “-about you.”

He stared at her for what felt like a much longer time that it actually was, “What?”

“Please don’t make me say it.” Rey’s face felt like it was on fire.

“You made me say it.” He said, and though his words were cocky, his tone was anything but. He sounded awestruck.

“Fine, Ben, I also get off to the thought of you, are you happy?” Just then, a scandalized mother walked by, covering her child’s ears as Rey’s words fell out of her mouth. Rey smiled apologetically, then turned to Ben with wide eyes, “Look what you made me do, you made me scar a small child for life.”

Ben was too busy watching Rey with an intensity that bordered on clinical. “You do?”

“Isn’t that kind of obvious?” Rey asked, laughing to try and ease the tension that had somehow formed between them, “I mean, I’ve been all over you for months.”

“You have?” He asked, his eyebrows shooting to hairline.

“Uh, yeah.” Rey said, taking a bite of pizza, “It’s getting to the point where if you don’t do something about it, Finn’s going to lock us in a closet until we-”

“Okay, I get it!” Ben said, watching a young girl as she passed by the table. Maybe a pizza parlor was not the best place to be having a conversation like this, but there they were.

“You seriously didn’t know?” Rey asked, her mouth full of pizza. “I mean, I knew you were into me.”

Ben blushed, and it was beautiful. Rey couldn’t keep the smile off of her face as he said, “I never thought you were genuinely interested. I just thought it was for fun.”

Rey dropped her pizza on her plate and wiped her hands on a napkin, “Ben, I tried kissing you three nights ago when we were playing Monopoly.”

“Well, I gave you Baltic Avenue! It completed your monopoly. I thought you were just really grateful.” He said, and Rey could see that he was realizing how stupid he’d been as he was talking.

Rey shook her head, “You’re a dumbass.”

Ben chewed contemplatively, “So, what, you like me or something?”

Rey laughed an unappealing snort coming out of her, “God, Ben, you’re smooth aren’t you?”

“Well?” He asked, tossing his uneaten crust on the pizza tray, “Do you?”

Rey blushed, taking a drink of her soda, “I mean, obviously.”

He grinned at her, “I like you, too.”

“I know.” Rey said, sticking her tongue out at him, “I’ve known that for a while, you dork.”

“Well, we should probably do something about that.”

Rey rolled her eyes, “You’re goddamn genius, Ben.”

He laughed, and suddenly Rey didn’t feel embarrassed or uncomfortable anymore. All she felt was that she was with Ben and he liked her (which, of course, she’d known, but it was nice to have confirmation). 

“Is this a date?” He asked, looking around the parlor as if he’d just now realized where they were.

“Do you want it to be?”

“No, if I’m taking you out, I’m going to take you some place nice.”

“This place is nice!” Rey said, looking around, “Harrison Ford’s been here!” She pointed to the picture of the owner with the actor on the wall.

“Well, if it’s good enough for Harrison Ford...” Ben muttered.

Rey smiled, shaking her head at him, “Fine, this isn’t a date. But you have to actually ask me out.”

Ben grinned at her, “I will.”


End file.
